


Shoulder to the Wheel

by FindMeIfYouDare



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Demons, F/M, Gen, Light Angst, Multi, Past Character Death, Past Relationship(s), Reader-Insert, hunter reader, shoulder to the wheel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-05
Updated: 2016-01-07
Packaged: 2018-05-12 00:03:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,813
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5646646
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FindMeIfYouDare/pseuds/FindMeIfYouDare
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Shoulder to the wheel, right babe?”<br/>“Right. Shoulder to the wheel.”<br/>~<br/>The Winchesters find a piece of your past that you've tried to keep hidden.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Shoulder to the Wheel

“I need to head to my apartment to pick up some things,” you say quietly as the boys and you finish packing up. “You guys can head back to the bunker and I can take the bus there and back.”

Sam gives you a bitch face and Dean snorts. “Yeah right it’s no big deal we’ll take you, sweetheart.”

“Besides we’d like you see your place,” Sam gives you an encouraging smile. “Why do you keep it anyways? You live with us in the bunker isn’t it weird to keep it?

You twist your fingers together nervously and shrug, “I usually rent it out to other hunters who pass through or let one of my old friends live in it. Besides I have a bunch of useless crap that I keep there… Reminders of a time when I was someone else.” The boys give you curious looks but you pretend not to see.

Several hours later you’re unlocking the door to your average looking apartment with two inquisitive Winchesters standing behind you. The door needs a firm push to open it but once it is you head in and start looking through the mail and opening bills. “Make yourselves at home,” you say over your shoulder as the brothers shuffle into the living area, gazes wandering curiously. “I don’t keep any food here but there might be some booze in the cabinet.”

“Sweet,” Dean says while going over to check it out while Sam looks over your bookcase. 

“I’m going to take a quick shower,” you say to which they both grunt in response before you disappear into the bathroom down the hall.

While Dean is pouring himself a drink Sam comes across a set of home movies one with the words “The Epic Love Story of (Y/n) and Peter.” He pulls it from the shelf and brings it over to Dean. “Look at this it’s some kind of movie from (y/n)’s childhood.”

“Think it’s a dirty movie?” asks Dean with a grin. 

Sam rolls his eyes. “Yeah I’m sure young (y/n) was making sex tapes with her boyfriend… Speaking of which I’ve never heard her mention this guy, or any guy. But this tape seems to indicate that they had a pretty serious relationship.”

Dean grabs the tape, “Let’s check this sucker out!” Before Sam can protest, not that he was going to, Dean turns on the TV and puts the video in. 

At first all the boys see is static but then an image appears and they can see young (y/n) standing on a stage, mike in hand. You look to be about thirteen or fourteen with braces and glasses but the same happy grin and nonchalant attitude. Even standing on stage you seem as natural as you do decapitating vampires. “Hi, my name is (y/n) and I’m going to be singing a song for you today.”

“WOO!” The guy holding the camera cheers and the picture shakes. “You got this (y/n)! Remember shoulder to the wheel!” The sound of the camera holder hitting his shoulder can be heard and you give a smile and slap your shoulder too before beginning to sing. 

The boys sit and watch close to an hour of scenes like this. In most of them you’re performing on some stage but in others you and Peter, the videographer, are hanging out and goofing off. It becomes apparent that while you don’t say I love you the whole ‘shoulder to the wheel’ bit seems to be your version. The boys see how the two of you grow up and fall in love over a short set of video clips. It’s amazing to them to see how carefree and happy you used to be. No worry lines or scars mar your body and there’s a lightness to your eyes that has vanished. 

The clip they’re currently watching has you and Peter trying to catch popcorn in your mouths while hanging out before graduation. “You ready to be an adult? Do the whole college bullshit?” Peter asks with a grin at the camera that you’re presently holding. 

You giggle and zoom in on his face, “Sure that’s what we’ve been raised for, right? College, then a job, get married, have some kids, you know the boring stuff.” 

“You think marrying me will be boring?” he gasps lunging for you.

Scrambling backward you barely dodge him. “I know it would be, you loser! But we both know you’re going to love college.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” he mutters as you go over and cuddle up with him. “Shoulder to the wheel, right babe?”

The boys turn at the sound of you snorting as you stand behind the couch watching the screen. A towel is in your hand and you wet hair is dripping onto your shoulders. “Hope you all aren’t watching for a happy ending. I can never stomach what happens next.” With those cryptic words you walk out of the room and they turn back to the screen which has gone black. 

When the picture returns it’s not the normal scenes they’ve been watching but a ransacked room with a tied up figure of you in a chair in the middle. Blood is dripping down your face and the angle of your shoulder shows it’s been dislocated. “Wow babe you’re looking good.” Says the all too familiar voice of Peter. He comes into the shot as he steadies the camera. “Seriously red is so your color!”

His eyes flash black as he winks at the camera, “Since we love taping everything I thought one last tape to remember our ‘epic’ love story by would be perfect. Don’t you agree?”

You manage to flop your head up and look at him, “Go back to hell.”

He chuckles and walks over to you and yanks your hair, pulling your head back painfully. “See this is what I find interesting. You find your boyfriend, the love of your life, possessed by a demon and you don’t become scared you get mad. What sort of secrets were you hiding from me?”

“None that matter now,” you reply a bitter smile on your lips. “Go on and kill me you black eyed bastard!”

“Tut tut,” croons the demon. “He really loved you, you know? Who knew that a puny human could feel such strong emotions? It’s quite… Interesting.” Then the torture starts and the boys watch all fifteen minutes of it as you scream and cry and laugh in hysterics. Soon the demon hits you just a little too hard and the chair you’re in is sent flying into the camera with you still attached. “Uh oh hit you a bit harder then I meant to.”

“That’s okay,” you pant and from the angle of the camera the boys can see you untying your wrists as the demon begins to walk toward you. “I’m tougher then I look.”

The demon nods and bends down so his face is near yours, “Shoulder to the wheel, right babe?” He hits his shoulder playfully a sick grin on his face. 

You swipe up with a quick jab and catch the demon in the jaw sending him reeling off camera. Grabbing one of the discarded tools you give it an experimental swing before following. The boys can hear the sound of metal hitting flesh as you beat your boyfriend to death. 

Down the hall, out of sight of the boys, you listen to the sound of yourself beating the man you loved to death. And let out a shaky, tear-filled laugh as you hear your past-self give a broken laugh and the sickening sound of your shoulder being put back in can be heard, “Right. Shoulder to the wheel.”


	2. Blue Skies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You explain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly I wasn't planning on writing another part to this but after reading the comments I started thinking about it and decided it could use another part. So I wrote it then went 'this is shit' then rewrote it and went 'meh'. I'm not sure if I ended up liking or hating this but I figured it couldn't hurt to post it. Worst comes to worst and I'll take it down and try rewriting it again!

“It’s all blue skies from here, sweetie.”

It was something your father used to say to you after every hunt. Your parents were hunters making them less cuddly and affectionate than most parents but they always called you sweetie. The two of them were as pessimistic and bitter as all hunters are but there was always that moment… That moment right after hunts where Father would turn to look at you or Mother with a genuine smile and tell you, “It’s all blue skies from here.” And it would be for a while. Sometimes even a few days until a new hunt would come up and things would turn cloudy and black again. But soon enough the blue skies would be back. You lived for those moments. Those moments where your parents would laugh and smile and there would be blue skies. 

 

“What the hell?” Dean turns to look at Sam as the screen goes black again the tape finally having ended. “Did you see that?”

Sam nods solemnly as he gazes at the black screen, “Yeah Dean I saw it.”

Dean wipes a hand down his face and knocks back the rest of his drink. “She beat him to death. Didn’t even pause as she took that hammer and killed him. It was… It was -”

“Pretty disturbing, right?” you reply coming back into the room towel discarded and hair pulled away from you face. Your tone is calm but the inner turmoil you feel over the Winchesters finally knowing your biggest secret weighs heavy in your gut. The guilt you still carry over that night will haunt your for eternity. Most nights you wake the dull sound of metal against skin ringing in your ears. 

Both boys look at you guiltily. “I mean I did brutally murder the man I loved. In the end I’m no better than the monsters we hunt. There’s quite a lot of blood on my hands.” Your hands shake as you take a seat across from the couch where they sit and clamp them together to hide the tremor. 

“No,” Sam sits forward a frown on his face. “You did what you had to. We don’t blame you for that.” He gives a pointed look at Dean who sits up and sets his glass down. 

Dean nods in agreement with Sam. “Of course we don’t blame you, (y/n).”

You smile at them sadly, silent tears leaking from your eyes. “Sometimes I wonder why I keep the tape but part of me just can’t throw it away. I loved Peter. I really, really did. It sounds stupid but the two of us could have had the perfect apple pie life together. He would have gotten some lame office job and I would have popped out a kid or two and everything would have been ordinary. Except people like me,” you look up at the boys and let out a strained chuckle. “People like me don’t get that kind of life. We get demon possessed boyfriends and parents killed in a car crash. So I guess I keep it to remind myself of a time when I still had the fantasy of what a life that somewhere deep inside of me I knew I’d never get. Pathetic.”

The twin looks of pity on their faces don’t make you feel any better. Dean finally breaks the silence, “So you became a hunter after Peter, um… died?” His attempt at tactful wording makes you crack a small smile.

“No Dean,” You reply rolling your shoulders and cracking your neck as you try to relax. “I was born into the life. Peter was the catalyst that gave me the push to stop pretending I didn’t have to be a hunter.”

“But your parents were accountants,” Sam states with a confused expression. “Are you telling us accountants were the hunters that trained you?”

You snort with restrained laughter and shake your head. “No! The truth is a little more complicated. The people who raised me, the ones I called ‘Mom’ and ‘Dad’ were actually my aunt and uncle. My mother’s sister and her husband. My mother and father were hunters who happened upon each other and became hunting partners before deciding that they might as well admit to being in love and get married. As far as I know they never planned on having kids but,” you raise your hands in a helpless gesture. “well shit happens and I was born. Neither wanted to raise a kid in this life so they gave me to Mother’s sister and her husband. I had a pretty normal childhood except for the fact that all my extracurricular activities were geared toward training me for being a hunter. I played soccer, did archery, gymnastics, and martial arts. Seriously I was the busiest kid you’d have ever seen and it didn’t help that I desperately wanted to please both sets of my parents. Mom and Dad were easy all they wanted was good grades but Mother and Father needed to know that I ran faster than the other kids and could shoot dead straight. Each activity was honing my skills that they would put to the test once I turned thirteen and they started taking me on ‘family vacations’.”

“Holy shit,” Dean breathes out. “They took you hunting.”

You nod, “Yup. Physically I might have been ready but mentally I was nowhere near ready. So then they started giving me books. Lore books to help teach me what I needed to know. Father took me to a buddy of his and got me my anti-possession tattoo on the same trip as my first hunt. On the outside I may have looked like a normal teen girl but inside they were starting to mold me further into what they knew I’d need to be. I never told anyone about what I really did on my family vacations. Not Mom and Dad or even Peter.” 

A blissful smile takes over your face as you remember all the silly, happy times you and Peter had together. “He was always there for me. We met in third grade when his family moved into the same neighborhood and became the best of friends. The two of us were inseparable and dating came as naturally as being friends did to us. But you guys saw how that ended.” You look up and meet their gazes in turn. “Blood and death were a fitting end to our beautiful love story and an even more fitting beginning to my true leap into hunting. I packed up after graduation and left town with Mother and Father never looking back except to visit Mom and Dad when I could. They never asked what happened to Peter and nobody ever suspected me. Why would they? It was a small town and everyone knew that Peter and I were in love. It still an open homicide. And now everyone I loved is dead. Mother and Father got taken out by werewolves and Mom and Dad died in a car crash. Quite the tale of woe isn’t it?”

“Fucking hell,” Dean finally says. “I think we could all use a drink after that.” He gets up and grabs a bottle pouring the contents into three glasses and passing them out. 

After you all knock back your drinks Sam speaks. “So you had a normal life and a hunter life? And a set of parents to go with each life? Sounds… nice?”

You roll your eyes and shrug. “It was unusual but I’m grateful for being able to pretend my childhood was normal. Sure sometimes I feel bitter because I never really got a truly normal life. There were days where I could pretend it was normal but then Mother or Father would call and want an update on how my progress with archery was coming or if I liked that book of ancient fables they sent me. They seemed like such innocent questions but they were making sure I was the best. Pushing me to test my limits until I could run faster and hit harder than any kid I knew. Mom and Dad tried to make sure things were normal for me but it always felt like a lie. Living a pretty lie.”

“You resent them for it?” Dean asks casually. “Your biological parents for dragging you into the hunting life?”

“Nah,” you shake your head and pour yourself another drink. “They did what they thought was best. Despite everything they tried to make sure I was happy and safe. How can I resent the people who gave me the skills necessary to keep myself alive? Besides they were some of the only family I had. No matter what happened and how much the past causes me pain I try not to hold onto it.”

“Well you have us now,” Sam says with an agreeing nod from Dean. “We’re family now.”

Dean raises his glass, “Damn straight.” Sam raises his too. 

You duck your head to hide the tears that well up at his statement before raising your glass as well, “And it’ll be all blue skies from here.”


End file.
